if it doesn't act, the administration says, middle class tax bills will increase by $2,000. >> we're in the midst of the christmas season. i think the american people are counting on this getting solved. the closer it gets to the brink, the more stress there is going to be. >> reporter: what may raise the stress level even further is the promise that both the president and treasury secretary geithner has made. that is, if tax rates don't rise for top earners, there will be no deal. >> i'm not going to sign any taxes that somehow prevents the top rates from going up for folks at the top 2%. >> if that happens, if there's no agreement, economist mark zandi told a congressional hearing it would be bad news. >> if we go over the cliff and there's no change after that, we hit the gdp in 2013 will be 3.5 percentage points. the economy is growing two percentage point. subtract 3 1/2 and that is a severe recession. >> reporter: republicans will be blamed if there is no agreement say the president is acting in bad faith. >> i think it's fair to say that the president is not interested in a ba